Getting a SSD, but just a few questions...

shinester184 · 30 Mar 2009 at 22:54

I plan to buy an OCZ Vertex within the week, for my curent machine. My OS (Vista Ultimate 64-bit) is currently installed on my Samsung, but I would like to put the OS on my SSD and just use the Sammy for storage.

How do I erase the OS off the Sammy, so that I can re-install it to the SSD?

Thanks!

Rainmaker · 30 Mar 2009 at 23:04

Image the drive (files only, not freespace!) with something like Acronis?

coupe69 · 30 Mar 2009 at 23:05

Format?

goujon945 · 30 Mar 2009 at 23:06

Yeah Acronis true image (or similar) should do the job

shinester184 · 30 Mar 2009 at 23:19

So, would I just be able to image the 'Windows' and 'Program Files' folders, then just copy it all on to the SSD, change the boot priority and I have fully working OS from the SSD? This would be using Acronis.

Rainmaker · 30 Mar 2009 at 23:32

Not quite. Acronis doesn't just copy and paste your Windows and Program Files. It literally images - photocopies, if you will - your entire hard drive (Windows files, program files, user files etc) and saves the image as a compressed file. When you want to restore the image, Acronis (or whatever) just unpacks the image and literally copies it bit for bit to the (new) drive. It's as if you never moved it.

JonJ678 · 30 Mar 2009 at 23:43

I think you'll be fine simply deleting the windows, program files, my documents etc and setting the vertex to the primary boot drive. It would be cleaner to back up the data and reformat the drive but also more effort.

If you delete files rather than reformat, your computer may occasionally try to boot from this drive (and fail). While annoying, this isn't too bad

ian|Squared² · 31 Mar 2009 at 00:01

just reformat and do a few backups.
any reason to reinstall is a good one my HDs get clogged up with rubbish like there's no tomorrow!

FaceplantSi · 31 Mar 2009 at 09:17

Image your HDD with Acronis as others have said (there's even a trial download version which I used before). Save the image to DVD (it can span acros several if too large for one). Disconnect your HDD and put the SSD in, load image from DVD (you may need to change the BIOS boot sequence) then once you are up and running your OS onthe SSD you change the boot sequence to boot from SSD, then you can re-attach the HDD and use Disk Manager (Control Panel > Admin Tools > Computer Mgmt > Disk Mgr) to erase the old HDD (format it). BUT only format once you are sure you've got everything you need from it.

As to your comp trying to boot from the old drive, this wont be a prob if you've specified the boot sequence in BIOS. I have my old Vista drive sitting spare in my PC as I'm now running SSD's and if I ever need to flash their Firmware I just boot from my old HDD and use that OS to do the flashing.

edit: If you are running Vista you prob cant just delete the old files anyway as your newly loaded copy wont allow you full admin access to user and system files on the old one. Hence why format is needed to clean the drive out.

malcolm · 31 Mar 2009 at 12:01

shinester184 said:
I plan to buy an OCZ Vertex within the week, for my curent machine. My OS (Vista Ultimate 64-bit) is currently installed on my Samsung, but I would like to put the OS on my SSD and just use the Sammy for storage.

How do I erase the OS off the Sammy, so that I can re-install it to the SSD?

Thanks!

I did a similar job to this on a Netbook. I bought one of those USB SATA docking stations, put the new drive in it and the Netbook could see the drive.

I then used Partition Magic to reduce the size of the original OS disc to the same size as the SSD (my original disc was bigger but had lots of free space). Then I used Acronisto clone the OS isc to the new SSD. Swap the drives, and bingo, booted perfectly from the SSD.

I then put the original 2.5" SATA drive in the docking station, deleted all the Partitions on it and formatted it as a single NTFS volume. It's now in my HTPC as a boot disc.